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I didn't love the secrecy, but after the military, my family was used to it. "Is there something urgent, or are you just calling me to bust my balls?"
"Eww, I would rather not think about your balls, baby brother."
"Baby brother by only three bloody minutes."
She laughed. "Listen, we need to do something about Dad."
I froze, my gut clenching. The mere mention of my father could sour my whole mood. "I told you I’m handling it."
"Well, you need to handle it a bit faster. He's trying to get board support to call for a vote of no confidence on you. You know what happens after that, right? He will try and appeal his ousting, so we need you to actually pretend to give a fuck."
I did not have time for this right now.
"Idogive a fuck."
"Then why aren't you taking the stipulations Grandad laid out seriously?"
"I am. My hands are just a little bit tied right now, okay?"
"What are you doing that could be more important than this?"
I sighed. There was no way she would ever let me just sit still and live. "We’ve got him, Adrianna. After all these years, we have the wanker. I saw a hole in his security. We finally have him."
My sister was silent for second. "Seriously, you have him?"
"Yes. Which is what I'm trying to attend to right now. I need to get off the phone with you."
There was another beat of silence. "I know this is important for you. It’s something you've been trying to resolve since you came back. Are you sure that you want to do this?"
I hated that she knew me so well, that she could always feel what I was feeling. I hated that she never let me shy away from any of those feelings. I loved my sister, but goddamn, when she wanted to make a point, she was relentless. "It's fine, Adrianna. I'm fine."
She sighed. "Well, I can't change your mind. But let me just remind you that Elise brought all this on herself. You aren’t at fault."
The pain twisted in my chest. "It doesn't matter. She was still mine to protect, and I failed. So I'm going to bring them to justice, and then I'm going to move on with my fucking life."
"You say that, Jasper, but can you actually move on? Especially if you do what I think you are doing. Will it ever be enough?"
It was a good question. Could I move on from this? Could I walk away, let it go, and go back to my normal life? Not if you considered dear old Dad.
“Love, I have to go.”
"Fine, but call me back. You know what the terms say.”
“Bloody hell, I can’t focus on that right now.”
“I know that your othercareeris important. And trust me, I understand what you do for the world. I do. I am immensely proud of you for it. At the same time, we have a business to run. You know that. And if we cannot run it together, someone else will be happy to step in and run it for us. So I need your focus and attention. We need to deal with this now."
I scrubbed a hand over my face. She was right of course. Adrianna was always right. She really relished being right, and it was irritating to say the least. "I hear you. I understand you, and I am working on it."
"Work faster. We don't have a lot of time, and eventually, you're going to have to make choices. Tough decisions on which world you want both feet in at the same time. You understand that, right?"
"I'm not an idiot. Of course, I understand."
"All right, fine, I will lay off because you clearly don't want to talk about this."
"No, I don't." I felt like shit. She was telling the truth and she was protecting me. Which was a lot more than I could say for other people. "Sorry. I'm being a wanker. A complete twat, I know."
"Well, I'm glad you’re aware of this fact that hasn’t changed since your birth."
